January 2, 2026 • 33 mins
Filling in for Sean Hannity, Peter Schweizer and Eric Eggers break down what may be the largest public-funds fraud scandal in American history, with Minnesota at the center. Joined by former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, the discussion traces how years of ignored audits, whistleblower warnings, and political pressure allowed massive fraud across food programs, Medicaid, autism services, and assisted living—potentially totaling $9 billion. Pawlenty outlines a culture of government incompetence, political correctness, and intentional inaction that let the abuse grow unchecked, while federal prosecutors now move aggressively toward indictments. The conversation raises urgent questions about accountability, political consequences, and whether Minnesota voters will demand real reform.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Happy New Year, America. It's Peter Schweizer.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
This is Eric Eggers, and we were filling in for
Sean joined the conversation one eight one hundred ninety four
one seven three two six one a hundred ninety four
one seven three two six. Something I did not think
I would say on this show, and that is that
the nation's eyes are turned to Minnesota. You've got massive
fraud occurring in Minnesota, and and I think we're just
(00:25):
at the tip of the iceberg.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
I think we're at the tip of the iceberg. The
last time we were able to fill in for Sean
was actually the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and we were talking
about Minnesota fraud then. And it's insane to think that,
like two months later, it's still in the news because
we're still finding out more details about just how pervasive
this is. Of course, we've been covering this story on
the podcast We Do the Drill Down, which you can
(00:47):
find at the drill down dot com. We were telling
you about this summer feeding program which had two hundred
and fifty million dollars potentially stolen, fraudulent one hundred and
twenty five meals that were just fabricated, million meals one
hundred and twenty five million meals insane. Insane. And so
as people kind of like peek under the hood, they
realize it's not just a fraudulent feeding programs. There's medicaid fraud,
(01:11):
there's autism fraud. But Peter, the larger point I think
is how did Minnesota get this bad? How did it
go from a purple state to a state that hasn't
had a Republican win statewide election in twenty years.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Yeah, and well we're going to bring on the last
one who pulled that off, and that is the former
governor of Minnesota, Tim Plenty. Happy New Year to you
and Tim, what do you make of all of this?
I mean, is this surprising to you?
Speaker 4 (01:40):
Well, Peter and Eric, good to be with you, and
happy New Years to you and to your listeners. It
is a It is really infuriating. And this is an
example over not just weeks or months, but years of
world class government stupidity and incompetence. And I can walk
you through the details, that's not spin. But there are
years worth of auditor reports, nonpartisan, well respected auditor reports
(02:04):
raising red flags about lack of financial controls, concerns about
potential fraud and a culture in state government that didn't
take these concerns seriously and it is a travesty.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Well, it seems to me.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
One of the things that's interesting is that there were
actually people in state government that were raising questions about
this for years, and it seems as if elected officials
kind of turned a blind eye. And my question for
you is you mentioned incompetency, which I think certainly is
a term that applies here. But I guess my question
(02:36):
is is do you think it's more than that. Do
you think that there was a political They derive political
benefits from looking the other way, so it's not just incompetence.
There's an element of intentionality with at least some of
the political leaders were talking about.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Yeah, there are allegations, and I think they are credible
that the state government in part failed to respond in
a timely manner or at all many of these circumstances
because the main perpetrators, as alleged are and we're Somali's
and of course they didn't want to get the Democrats
didn't want to get accused of being racist, that they
wanted to be politically correct. And also there's one hundred
(03:14):
thousand person voting block in Minnesota which could decide an election,
and of course most of those votes go to Democrats.
So there are concerns that part of this ghost slow
or look the other way was because of political correctness
concerns around the Somali community and they're big supporters of
the Democrats.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Well, there's no doubt about it. And I'm very interested
in your perspective. Having been the governor of the state
and seeing the growth of the Somali community that obviously
the shift towards consistently voting for just Democrats. But to
your point, and to your point about the influence of
the Somali community and the fealty with which Democrat elected
officials treat some of these people. Listen to this audio.
(03:53):
We played this on our podcast a few weeks ago.
This is Attorney General Keith Ellison meeting with a collection
of Somali business leaders, and the Smali business leaders are
complaining about the fact that the state government in Minnesota
is giving them a hard time. So the first voice
you're gonna hear are voice of the Somali business community,
and then you're gonna hear Keith Ellison respond to their
(04:15):
request because they're saying listen, and many of these people,
by the way, should be pointed out, we're literally arrested
a month after this meeting for committing frauds. So the
state agencies asking them questions, I think we're legitimate, but
listen to this audience. I'd love to hear your reaction
to this.
Speaker 5 (04:29):
What we're talking about here, General Ellison is we have
systemic patterns of abuse, waste, and fraud from the departments,
claiming the same from minority business owners, and we've taken
it far too long.
Speaker 6 (04:46):
Of course, I'm here in the hill, and okay, just
to say, just getting the question, just getting the inquiry
from the agen is sometimes enough to make people knock
it off.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Yeah, Governor plenty. So that is a tape, by the way,
I should say it was provided by the Center for
American Progress, which is very well respected, not Center for
American Progress, center for the American Experiments in Minneapolis. And
that's Keith Ellison essentially saying I'm going to put heat
on state officials who are raising questions about financial irregularities
(05:21):
and fraud.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
Your reaction, now, there's one of many examples that were
now aware of where state government officials look the other
way ducked or worse yet, knowingly didn't go after allegations
or concerns of product. Give you a couple other quick
quick ones. Yeah, So there was an investigation of a
childcare center in twenty eighteen and our Bureau Criminal Apprehension
(05:42):
was investigating it, and they didn't bring charges, according to
the investigator, in part because a state bureaucrat failed and
refused to cooperate, saying they didn't want to quote unquote
enable or be a tool of law enforcement. Now what
state bureaucrat gets away with that would it'd be accountable,
you know, not cooperating with the fraud investigation. And then
(06:03):
of course we have auditors saying when they brought the
message to the Walls administration about their concerns about financial controls,
they felt the Walls administration had a quote unquote shoot
the messenger mentality about auditors bringing them news about these concerns.
And the list goes on and off. So you it
is a mountain of growing evidence that the state government
(06:24):
failed and failed miserably and maybe affirmatively.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
So well, and to the point I believe it's the
FBI was even flagging. We've seen in these state audits.
The FBI was flagging this feeding program as early as
I think twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen, saying we're getting reports
that they're asking for kickbacks from vendors, and those reports
were ignored, and then obviously the program greved to be
the fraudulent mountain that it was. Is this because of
(06:52):
like the Somali population or is it more that, hey,
we have these people and we're going to let these
this be. As you noted, it's a voting block, and
so I guess, like, is it about we're going to
give them money and then they're going to vote for us?
And does that happen organically or to Peter's point, does
somebody design this system.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Well, we'll know more about the particular details as these
various investigations federal and state and now numerous ones unfold,
but I think there's enough to be able to say
they definitely look the other way, ducked Winslow or didn't
pursue claims in part because of the constituency involved politically,
and maybe in terms of, you know, the power that
(07:34):
that group had, either as a voting block or donors
or whatever. We'll know more about that soon enough, but
The other question is what kind of culture do you
have in state government where you'd have this go on
this long and be ignored for this long when there
was signals being raised, credible signals being raised by lots
of people, whistleblowers, auditors, other people, And so there's a
(07:56):
lot of important questions to be answered, and the answers
I don't think are going to be very favorable for well,
I know they're not going to be favorable for this administration.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Well, we're talking to former Minnesota Governor Tim Plenty about
the ongoing crisis in Minnesota. I'm sure it's going to
spread to California and to other states, probably some red
states too. In a sense, I guess my question for
you is, looking at this in terms of Minnesota, what's
the scope here? I mean, we've had the feeding program.
(08:27):
There are now questions being raised about some of the
senior assisted living programs. You now have one in five
autism centers in the state are currently under investigation for
alleged fraudulent activity. People who run these centers, by the way,
don't need to be licensed. It seems to me that
Minnesota very generously says we want to help people, and
(08:48):
you have people that are profiting out off of exploiting it.
How convinced are you that we're actually going to see
people go to jail? And how convinced are you that
we're actually going to see there's going to be a
political consequence for this. Do the people in Minnesota even
care in your mind about this widespread fraud?
Speaker 4 (09:07):
Yeah? Two things. One is the US Attorney's Office, of course,
headed by an appointee by President Trump, is going after
this hard. So we're going to They've already indicted about
ninety people or charged about ninety people and more to come.
And that prosecutor, by the way, said his estimate of
how much fraud this is what they know so far
is nine billion dollars, which I believe would make it
(09:30):
the largest fraud or theft of public funds in American history.
And the programs you mentioned and others including medicaid are
going to be involved. And we're just getting started. Federal
agencies are just getting started looking into this. So the
scope is huge, the amount is huge, and the fact
that they my state government was as negligent and incompetent
(09:51):
or worse in the circumstances is infuriating.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
What do you say to people who now want to
look at other systems in Minnesota and raise questions about
the integrity there with the voting system. Harmeiet Dillon, who's
with obviously the Attorney General's office, is now writing a
letter to the Secretary of State Steve Simon and asking
for records relating to same day voter registration. And this
is a letter that I believe she sent today. So
(10:18):
you obviously have one statewide office in Minnesota. Minnesota's had
a very unique practice of known as vouching. They've had
some unique laws related to election integrity. What do you
think about I mean, if it can happen to welfare programs,
is it fair to raise questions about how secure the
voting has been in Minnesota as well?
Speaker 4 (10:37):
Yes, and there have been some isolated examples of voter
fraud in Minnesota, you know, not at scale. But there's
also a tussle going on between Secretary of State Steve
Simon and the federal government, the Trump administration, over releasing
data that would reveal more about potential fraud in Minnesota,
and the fact that Minnesota won't release that data is
concerning and maybe suspicious. But beyond that, you know, one
(11:01):
of the hallmarks of preventing fraud is you got to
check and that you know, you have to can't check
everything every day, everywhere, but you have to check enough
to be able to detect early whether you've got a
potential fraud problem. And we do not check nearly enough
in our voting system in Minnesota, and I think more
scrutiny in that area is definitely well deserved.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Well, we've been talking to a former governor of Minnesota,
Tim Plenty, about the situation in that state. I'm going
to ask you, I guess a final question, and this
is where I get a little bit concerned and skeptical.
There was a case recently in Minnesota of a Somali
gentleman who was operating a fraudulent I think it was
daycare center, was convicted. It was three and a half
(11:41):
four million dollars. A jury unanimously said this guy's guilty,
go to jail. The judge took the unusual step of
reversing that and say, no, he's free to go. And
in her explanation, I'm trying to remember the judge's name.
In her explanation, Governor, she said, well, we have to
consider cultural factors which to me is highly insulting because
(12:03):
she's basically saying, if you're from Somalia, you really don't
know what fraud is. Is that a concern of yours
that people are going to make excuses and you're going
to have judges or people in state government figure out
ways to get some people off the hook under the
guise that this is like a cultural misunderstanding.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
Yeah, well, I'm familiar with that ruling, and I think
it's ridiculous and preposterous. You know, we shouldn't stigmatize people
because they're in a particular group, but we also should
excuse illegal or inappropriate behavior because somebody's in that group.
And her application of the law in this regard, I
think is I just don't understand it. It's very frustrating
(12:43):
and hopefully you know that will not be the pattern
with these cases as the rest of them get sentenced.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
But we also don't have a lot of data to
suggest it won't be. I mean, that's the problem to
your point it You know, people don't want to check,
but the more they check, the more they find. And
I will say, to the Trump administration's credit, they're checking more,
and so I think as a result they're finding more.
Governor Paulenti, you're great to join us. You're the last
Republican to win state wide election. We could talk about,
you know, Minnesota is a case study for I think
(13:11):
the problems potentially we're facing as a country when you
only have one party rule in these areas like Minnesota,
Lake California. But we appreciate your time today and wish
you the best of luck as you continue to try
to hold your home state accountable in ways that it
has not been for some time. So thank you for
joining us today.
Speaker 4 (13:25):
My pleasure, thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
So I think that there's you know, just as a
final note on that, the person who was in charge
of the Democrat Party for fifteen years, Ken Martin, is
now the head of the Democrat Party for the country.
And whatever systems they allowed and they groomed in place,
I mean, I don't think it's a stretch. You'd be like, hey,
are they trying to replicate this on a national level.
It's a very important story we're going to continue to follow.
(13:47):
He's Peter Schweiz or America Eggers. We're filling in for
Sean Handy here on The Sean Handy Show. We'd love
to talk to you. Give us a phone call one
eight hundred and nine to one sean we back right.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
After this.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
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Speaker 3 (15:16):
Hey, it's Peter Schweitzer and Eric Eggers here on the
Seawan Handy radio show. Peter, you just heard former Minnesota
Governor Tim Paulenti say that they don't really check about
the fraud in Minnesota. Now, if they wanted to check
a daycare in Minnesota, we'd run into some problems because
is this person who runs a daycare, Smally Daycare in
Minnesota just told us they've had a little bit of
(15:36):
a break in problem.
Speaker 8 (15:38):
Unfortunately, we saw that there was important documentation enrollment of
the children and also employee documentation that was gone. There
were also checkbooks are rifts from our checkpapers that are
from our.
Speaker 9 (15:53):
Book so you hear.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
So, if they did want to check, and they wanted
to look for like payroll records or like any evidence
that what you say you do here is actually taking
care of children, apparently due to vandals or thieves, that
information is now gone.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
And not backed up. Apparently, right, it's not in the
cloud and they don't have these records anywhere. Yeah, I
mean this is this is the problem. If you and
I tried that with the i r S. Yeah I
took those deductions, Yeah those were legitimate expenses, but I
can't find my records. I RS is gonna say too bad,
you owe us the money. And I think we need
to apply the same standard here. If you can't prove
that you were actually servicing kids in a daycare center
(16:30):
with these taxpayer dollars, that's fraud and you're going to jail.
Speaker 9 (16:33):
But what if the records were stolen?
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Peter, don't you realize how valuable some Mollie daycare records
are on the street value. Forget that blue diamond stuff,
but you got them some Mollids.
Speaker 9 (16:47):
I mean, it's insane.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
And the problem is when you've been accused of lying
and stealing, it's gonna be tough to take care award
for it. It's just a crazy story that just gets
it crazier. And it's been crazy in the news for
the last seven months. I can't believe we're still talking
about it. We'll talk about it plus the mother insane
stories and we get back from this break. He's Peter Schwisch,
Americ Eggers. This is the Sean Handy radio show back
after this.
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(18:23):
Breaking news all afternoon when you get off work, be
sure to check in first for everything you miss during
the day.
Speaker 9 (18:32):
This is the Sean Hannity Show.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Peter Schweitzer, Eric Edgars.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
We are filling in for Sean on this January the second,
twenty twenty six. Hard to say that twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
We got here already.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
We started the show by talking about some of the
radical predictions people had made about twenty twenty five, how
things were not as terrible as people thought they were.
It was actually a pretty good year looking ahead to
twenty twenty Usually people make kind of New Year's resolutions.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Have you made any?
Speaker 2 (19:04):
I know A common one is people want to get healthier.
They want to get more fit. You're you're a pretty
fit guy already, but you know, eating healthier, being healthier.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
First, let me just say thank you for noticing. That
means a lot, because I do try. What I'm what
I predict and what I am optimistic about is the
fact that I think that as a country, we're gonna
get healthier, and we're.
Speaker 9 (19:27):
Gonna get healthier in a way.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
You know, we we elected Donald Trump, he appointed RFK Junior,
And it's funny we had this whole like make America
Healthy Again thing and I do think that there there
are some health trends that are largely positive people.
Speaker 9 (19:40):
Fewer people seem to be drinking.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
There's a lot of like you know, dry January is
the thing, and just more and more people I think
are just choosing different lifestyles. But as a country, we
have made an interesting decision, something that you and I
I'm not sure we ever thought this would happen. Yeah,
because I remember a long time ago, you and I
did a TV spe on the Shohn Handy television show,
(20:02):
and it was about it was called profits from Poverty.
It was about how much money the welfare system, how
much money people make off of food stamps and including
by the way, at the time, like JP Morgan was
making money off of the EBT cards swiped. I mean,
it's crazy how much money it is. But one of
the things we tried to do is we were talking
about we wanted to have a soda lobbyist on to
talk about the fact, like SODA's big business in for
(20:26):
EBT and I think we've done a podcast on this.
It's something like two percent of Coca Cola's global earnings
would go down if people could stop buying soda with
their EBT or with their food stamps. Well, a number
of states as of yesterday have taken that step amazing,
So in Utah, Nebraska, Iowa, Indiana, and West Virginia, you
(20:47):
can no longer buy soda or junk food with your
food stamps. Indiana, you're happy because they're your college football
team's doing amazing. If you're a poor person, you're like soda,
you're less happy.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Well, and look, if you want to pay for it yourself,
you're welcome to the question is should taxpayer dollars in
a nutrition program be actually used to buy soft drinks
or pork rinds or whatever, And the answer is no.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
The answer is clearly no.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
You remember the n and SNAP stations for nutrition. Thirteen
more states are adding to this list by the fall,
by the way.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Yeah no, which is amazing. And look, there have been
studies that have compared the EBT, which is the sort
of food stamp program, with the WICK program, which is
a separate public assistance program for women and children. The
WICK has always banned using money for junk food or
SODA's or things like that. EBT is not, and studies
(21:44):
show that there's a massive difference in the obesity rates
that people that are on EBT have much higher obesity
problems than they do in Wick, and I think one
of the reasons is you've got money that you can
use to buy this stuff. And as you pointed out,
for years, the big companies, the big snack food companies,
the big software in companies fought this reform. Their argument was,
(22:07):
in the name of freedom of choice. We're Americans, right,
you should be able to choose what you put into
your body. My answer is, yeah, it kind of is,
except you're not going to use taxpayer dollars to do it.
So this is a huge, huge win for America to
become healthier and stronger.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
Yeah, it's an interesting discussion because when Mike Bloomberg outlawed
remember big sodas in New York City, and we're like,
what is this like that that seems an odd choice.
But there's a difference between saying what you private citizen
with your own money can purchase versus what I, as
a taxpayer going to subsidize for you, especially if what
we're subsidizing lends you to be even more of a
(22:42):
burden because you're gonna have poor health care outcomes and
everything else. I mean, the number one predictor of poor
health is income sadly, yeah, and so I mean that.
And part of the reason why is it just people
the cheap stuff's not great for you.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Yeah, cheap stuff's not great for you, and sometimes it's
not accessible. But again, you shouldn't be using taxpayer dollars
to do this. And by the way, this is going
to redound to the benefit not only for the individuals
on this program, but it's going to help lower health
care costs in America because when you have obesity, that's
what creates all that's creates problems of diabetes, heart problems, etc.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
So this is a win for all the right reasons.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
I think there's going to be people squealing about it,
saying how terrible it is, it's unfair, but I think
it's a great choice. Again, it's a nutrition program, and
we're talking about taxpayer dollars. We're not talking about somebody's
personal choice with what they choose to do with their
own money.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
So that's a positive trend, and it's one that we
didn't think was possible necessarily a decade ago.
Speaker 9 (23:39):
When we started looking at this.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
So here's another trend that I also think could be
quite positive. I don't know how possible it is, but
in case you don't know, in Australia they're about to
get not just like physically healthier, but mentally and emotionally
healthier because what they have done is they have banned
Peter Schweitzer children under the age of sixteen from using
social media and the rest of the world is taking notice.
(24:03):
And now even the New York Times is doing stories
about people are saying, listen, if Australia can do it, like,
can we do this too? And so it's interesting to
see like that. There's every study says social media is
so bad for the developing brains of children for lots
of different reasons. And as a father myself, I've noticed
(24:23):
a week my wife and I it was a long
discussion and we finally decided to get our our daughter's iPads.
And then I find that on these iPads they're actually
even getting It's like it's you think it's a video
thing and you set the parental controls for under the
age of nine, yet there's still things that are basically
social media on there. And it's crazy and it is
(24:44):
it's incredibly challenging. So credit to Australia. But of course
they're not. It's not a done deal. Reddit of all
companies is suing them to say no. We think the
teenagers they need the social media right, right, right, they
need they need to read Reddit. It's like a soda
company suing these states like no, oh, poor people need us.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
No, that's that's that's a great analogy. And look this one.
To me, I'm a little bit more conflicted on so
in Australia. I'm wondering if a parent says I'm fine
with my thirteen year old, is can can a parental approval?
Can a thirteen year old do it? Or is it
an outright ban? It doesn't matter.
Speaker 9 (25:16):
I believe it's not right band but you know me.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
But if you're a parent and you want to give
your kids scotch, like that's also illegal.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
No exactly, or a tattoo, right even if mom and
dad are okay with the eleven year old getting a tat, No,
you can't do that.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
I feel like the parents who get their kids tats
are also the kids parents who give the kids scotch.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
I think that's a fair assumption and why not sing
them all? Well?
Speaker 2 (25:43):
So, yeah, I mean the libertarian part of me doesn't
like the government telling people what to do. But again,
we were talking about children. Yeah, we're not talking about adults.
And sometimes you have parents that don't make great choices.
And by the way, this band, there's a lot of
parents that like this band because they don't have to
fight with their kids and say no, no, no, you
can't use it. It's like I can't do anything about it. Son, Sorry,
(26:05):
I wish you could watch those programs or do those
things online, but you can't because the government says so.
So it kind of helps parents out as well. Tell me,
how is it going with you? And you've got such
sweet children, and and and Katie your wife. You guys
are you know, working on this stuff together and you
know kind of have the same views right on iPad
usage and all of that. So how's it going, How
(26:27):
how they've had it since Christmas? How's it going?
Speaker 3 (26:29):
Poorly? Incredibly poorly? How I instantly regret this decision. No,
I mean just to say, I mean it's a real fight.
And there's a whole like wait till eight So a
lot of parents are trying to wait till eighth grade
to get their kids a phone or social media device
because it is it just it's insane.
Speaker 9 (26:46):
But I did.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
We we've been talking about having a contract for our
children to have to sign. Good idea, So like, here
are the rules you'll have to use to before you
can use his iPad, and even just the drafts of
the contract, which my wife ironically you chat GBT to
produce it. But then so we're talking about, hey, we'll
have these contracts, and I come home and I see
(27:08):
that my daughter has written this thing out.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
While revised the contract.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
She is eleven, and she has said, I hereby declare
that Ashland Smith Eggers does not have to sign any
form of a contract whatsoever. She does not have to
sign the new iPad contract that's being printed. You bought
the iPad. Now it's ours.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
And by the way, I love this. You've got this
right here in the studio. It's got nice yellow letters
iPad contract.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
I just think it speaks to like how much it
takes hold in their brains and their hearts.
Speaker 9 (27:40):
I mean, it's a real thing.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
It's like crack. It's like a crack addiction. I mean
you and look, it's all about dopamines. I mean, there
are all these studies have been done that shows like
when they pick a certain color, you know, for their
logo or certain color to frame something, they've done a
lot of research on the one that is most likely
to draw you in. And so that's great. So where
where are the contracting negotiations right now?
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (28:02):
I mean I think it's bedtime when I get home,
I think is what I will say this to your
point about like, and this is not just for children's
for adults too, and we're talking about New Yar's resolutions.
I think we just have to continue to be wiser.
You know. In addition to the food stamp documentary we produce,
we also did a documentary on Google and Facebook and technology.
It's called The Creepy Line. You can see it on Amazon.
(28:24):
But we you know, in that thing, you talk about
how there's always a gap between when a technology is
introduced and when regulations develop about the safe use of
that technology, right, and you know, we are now what
thirty years into the internet basically, yeah, and it we're
still kind of figuring out how and why is the
(28:46):
best way to use it? And these technology companies are
making so much money they don't want any restrictions whatsoever. Right,
But it's true that, Like, I mean, I give you
so much credit. You use the gray scale on your phone,
which I can't do because it makes my phone less fun.
But you're so good at it.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Well, I appreciate that. Yeah, the grayscale. The theory is
is the colors are part of the addiction, right in
sense of drawing you back in, So you can go
in your iPhone put it on gray scale, so everything's
black and white. Now, if somebody sends you a really
cool colorful picture about flowers, you're kind of out of luck.
But yeah, there are tricks that you can employ. But
to your point, I mean, you think about I'm old
(29:24):
enough to remember when the Internet first sort of really
in the nineteen nineties started to emerge. The promise was,
this is going to be so educational.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
People are gonna learn.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Languages, they're gonna learn about art history, they're gonna learn
about the French Revolution, they're gonna learn about all these
different cultures.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Look online.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
Yeah that stuff is there, but the biggest stuff is
basically garbage.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
But here's the point. Here's where do they use the
internet to learn about those things? And you wrote about
this in one of your most recent bestsellers. They do
it in China.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Because they restrict a lot of the stuff like TikTok
China Chinese company own TikTok. It's in the United States,
the local version, which is called something Different. They strip out.
There's no blue haired ladies screaming and dancing. There's no
you know, strange challenges. It's all science and history and culture,
(30:16):
of course through the eyes of the CCP. So look,
there's a balance there. But I agree with you. I
think we have experimented. My kids are older than are
in our twenties. They were kind of the experimental generation.
And I feel bad because our children were they were
given access to iPhones. Everybody thought everything was fine, and
then all these problems started to emerge, you know, the
(30:39):
terrible things about stalking and about you know, the sexual blackmail,
you know, pictures and all that kind of stuff. I
think it's high time that we realize the power, the potency,
and the damage that this stuff can do. So I
want to applaud you and your wife for doing this contract.
It's very easy to just tune out and say just
take the iPad.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
They'll be happy, it'll be more peaceful at home.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
But to to say okay, we're gonna expose you to
this technology, but it's gonna be restricted and it's going
to be controlled by us. You're gonna have some arguments
on your hands, but I'm glad you're doing well.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
I would just say I think that's the conversation that
is a country that we need to continue to be
willing to have. And just the example about technology and governance,
like seventy years before cars were introduced and we started
requiring or even allowing seat belt right right, I mean,
you know, and so just and I think we're still
very much into what does a seat belt look like?
For all the technology that we have access to as
(31:32):
a society, and the problem is that the companies make so
much money off of not allowing any of that stuff.
And so credit to Australia. You know, if states can
ban soda off of welfare programs and countries can ban
social media for teenagers, it just shows you that's a
conversation we need to continue to have. And so we
appreciate the opportunity to talk to you on this program
about like where I think we still need to go
as a possible New Years resolution. So we'll finish up
(31:54):
the program here he's Peter Schweizer, our americ Eggers. If
you've enjoyed what you've heard today, you can listen to
more of it at our post podcast website, The Drilldown
dot com.
Speaker 9 (32:02):
We right back after this.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
To Sean Hannity's show.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
This has been Peter Schweizer and Eric Eggers. We've been
filling in for Sewan. We appreciate you taking the time
to listen to us. Last question for you, mister Eggers,
I want either a prediction about twenty twenty six or
I want a resolution on your part for the year ahead.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
I think a prediction is and you heard Tim Paul
Lent he address it briefly. But I think with Harmeat
Dylan asking for voting records in Minnesota and the way
they're going after, I think fraud and just like looking,
they're just looking for things. I think you're going to
see real improvements in election integrity in this country. You know,
I wrote a book about election integrity that came out
in twenty eighteen. I think the Trump administration is refreshing
(32:42):
in actually taking it seriously. And I think that if
these welfare programs can be exploited, so too can the elections.
Speaker 9 (32:48):
There.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
It's a very topic that means a lot to them,
and I think you'll see them take meaningful action on
that this show.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Yeah, we were told there's very little fraud and social
welfare programs, and there's very little voter fraud. We found
it in social welfare programs, probably going to find it
in voter fraud as well well. This has been great, Eric,
I always appreciate the opportunity to do this with you.
I'm not a professional of this, You've done this in
your career. We're so thankful for Sean and for producer
Linda for allowing us to have access to these microphones.
(33:15):
Jason and Katie who are on Team Hannity up in
New York, thank you again for all of your guidance
and grant Brent and Lucas who've helped us here locally.
We appreciate that as well. And I'm very optimistic about
twenty twenty six. I think the economy is going to
do a lot of great things. I think people's lives
are going to improve, and I am very optimistic about
the year ahead.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
I'm optimistic too, Vian excited about your book, which you'll
come out in twenty twenty six. I think it'll do
a lot of good things, and so just again echo
your statements. Excited to the opportunity to host this show,
excited to talk to you America. Sean Handy, we back
on this show on Monday. Until then, have a great
weekend
Happy New Year, America. It's Peter Schweizer.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
This is Eric Eggers, and we were filling in for
Sean joined the conversation one eight one hundred ninety four
one seven three two six one a hundred ninety four
one seven three two six. Something I did not think
I would say on this show, and that is that
the nation's eyes are turned to Minnesota. You've got massive
fraud occurring in Minnesota, and and I think we're just
(00:25):
at the tip of the iceberg.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
I think we're at the tip of the iceberg. The
last time we were able to fill in for Sean
was actually the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and we were talking
about Minnesota fraud then. And it's insane to think that,
like two months later, it's still in the news because
we're still finding out more details about just how pervasive
this is. Of course, we've been covering this story on
the podcast We Do the Drill Down, which you can
(00:47):
find at the drill down dot com. We were telling
you about this summer feeding program which had two hundred
and fifty million dollars potentially stolen, fraudulent one hundred and
twenty five meals that were just fabricated, million meals one
hundred and twenty five million meals insane. Insane. And so
as people kind of like peek under the hood, they
realize it's not just a fraudulent feeding programs. There's medicaid fraud,
(01:11):
there's autism fraud. But Peter, the larger point I think
is how did Minnesota get this bad? How did it
go from a purple state to a state that hasn't
had a Republican win statewide election in twenty years.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Yeah, and well we're going to bring on the last
one who pulled that off, and that is the former
governor of Minnesota, Tim Plenty. Happy New Year to you
and Tim, what do you make of all of this?
I mean, is this surprising to you?
Speaker 4 (01:40):
Well, Peter and Eric, good to be with you, and
happy New Years to you and to your listeners. It
is a It is really infuriating. And this is an
example over not just weeks or months, but years of
world class government stupidity and incompetence. And I can walk
you through the details, that's not spin. But there are
years worth of auditor reports, nonpartisan, well respected auditor reports
(02:04):
raising red flags about lack of financial controls, concerns about
potential fraud and a culture in state government that didn't
take these concerns seriously and it is a travesty.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Well, it seems to me.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
One of the things that's interesting is that there were
actually people in state government that were raising questions about
this for years, and it seems as if elected officials
kind of turned a blind eye. And my question for
you is you mentioned incompetency, which I think certainly is
a term that applies here. But I guess my question
(02:36):
is is do you think it's more than that. Do
you think that there was a political They derive political
benefits from looking the other way, so it's not just incompetence.
There's an element of intentionality with at least some of
the political leaders were talking about.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Yeah, there are allegations, and I think they are credible
that the state government in part failed to respond in
a timely manner or at all many of these circumstances
because the main perpetrators, as alleged are and we're Somali's
and of course they didn't want to get the Democrats
didn't want to get accused of being racist, that they
wanted to be politically correct. And also there's one hundred
(03:14):
thousand person voting block in Minnesota which could decide an election,
and of course most of those votes go to Democrats.
So there are concerns that part of this ghost slow
or look the other way was because of political correctness
concerns around the Somali community and they're big supporters of
the Democrats.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Well, there's no doubt about it. And I'm very interested
in your perspective. Having been the governor of the state
and seeing the growth of the Somali community that obviously
the shift towards consistently voting for just Democrats. But to
your point, and to your point about the influence of
the Somali community and the fealty with which Democrat elected
officials treat some of these people. Listen to this audio.
(03:53):
We played this on our podcast a few weeks ago.
This is Attorney General Keith Ellison meeting with a collection
of Somali business leaders, and the Smali business leaders are
complaining about the fact that the state government in Minnesota
is giving them a hard time. So the first voice
you're gonna hear are voice of the Somali business community,
and then you're gonna hear Keith Ellison respond to their
(04:15):
request because they're saying listen, and many of these people,
by the way, should be pointed out, we're literally arrested
a month after this meeting for committing frauds. So the
state agencies asking them questions, I think we're legitimate, but
listen to this audience. I'd love to hear your reaction
to this.
Speaker 5 (04:29):
What we're talking about here, General Ellison is we have
systemic patterns of abuse, waste, and fraud from the departments,
claiming the same from minority business owners, and we've taken
it far too long.
Speaker 6 (04:46):
Of course, I'm here in the hill, and okay, just
to say, just getting the question, just getting the inquiry
from the agen is sometimes enough to make people knock
it off.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Yeah, Governor plenty. So that is a tape, by the way,
I should say it was provided by the Center for
American Progress, which is very well respected, not Center for
American Progress, center for the American Experiments in Minneapolis. And
that's Keith Ellison essentially saying I'm going to put heat
on state officials who are raising questions about financial irregularities
(05:21):
and fraud.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
Your reaction, now, there's one of many examples that were
now aware of where state government officials look the other
way ducked or worse yet, knowingly didn't go after allegations
or concerns of product. Give you a couple other quick
quick ones. Yeah, So there was an investigation of a
childcare center in twenty eighteen and our Bureau Criminal Apprehension
(05:42):
was investigating it, and they didn't bring charges, according to
the investigator, in part because a state bureaucrat failed and
refused to cooperate, saying they didn't want to quote unquote
enable or be a tool of law enforcement. Now what
state bureaucrat gets away with that would it'd be accountable,
you know, not cooperating with the fraud investigation. And then
(06:03):
of course we have auditors saying when they brought the
message to the Walls administration about their concerns about financial controls,
they felt the Walls administration had a quote unquote shoot
the messenger mentality about auditors bringing them news about these concerns.
And the list goes on and off. So you it
is a mountain of growing evidence that the state government
(06:24):
failed and failed miserably and maybe affirmatively.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
So well, and to the point I believe it's the
FBI was even flagging. We've seen in these state audits.
The FBI was flagging this feeding program as early as
I think twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen, saying we're getting reports
that they're asking for kickbacks from vendors, and those reports
were ignored, and then obviously the program greved to be
the fraudulent mountain that it was. Is this because of
(06:52):
like the Somali population or is it more that, hey,
we have these people and we're going to let these
this be. As you noted, it's a voting block, and
so I guess, like, is it about we're going to
give them money and then they're going to vote for us?
And does that happen organically or to Peter's point, does
somebody design this system.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Well, we'll know more about the particular details as these
various investigations federal and state and now numerous ones unfold,
but I think there's enough to be able to say
they definitely look the other way, ducked Winslow or didn't
pursue claims in part because of the constituency involved politically,
and maybe in terms of, you know, the power that
(07:34):
that group had, either as a voting block or donors
or whatever. We'll know more about that soon enough, but
The other question is what kind of culture do you
have in state government where you'd have this go on
this long and be ignored for this long when there
was signals being raised, credible signals being raised by lots
of people, whistleblowers, auditors, other people, And so there's a
(07:56):
lot of important questions to be answered, and the answers
I don't think are going to be very favorable for well,
I know they're not going to be favorable for this administration.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Well, we're talking to former Minnesota Governor Tim Plenty about
the ongoing crisis in Minnesota. I'm sure it's going to
spread to California and to other states, probably some red
states too. In a sense, I guess my question for
you is, looking at this in terms of Minnesota, what's
the scope here? I mean, we've had the feeding program.
(08:27):
There are now questions being raised about some of the
senior assisted living programs. You now have one in five
autism centers in the state are currently under investigation for
alleged fraudulent activity. People who run these centers, by the way,
don't need to be licensed. It seems to me that
Minnesota very generously says we want to help people, and
(08:48):
you have people that are profiting out off of exploiting it.
How convinced are you that we're actually going to see
people go to jail? And how convinced are you that
we're actually going to see there's going to be a
political consequence for this. Do the people in Minnesota even
care in your mind about this widespread fraud?
Speaker 4 (09:07):
Yeah? Two things. One is the US Attorney's Office, of course,
headed by an appointee by President Trump, is going after
this hard. So we're going to They've already indicted about
ninety people or charged about ninety people and more to come.
And that prosecutor, by the way, said his estimate of
how much fraud this is what they know so far
is nine billion dollars, which I believe would make it
(09:30):
the largest fraud or theft of public funds in American history.
And the programs you mentioned and others including medicaid are
going to be involved. And we're just getting started. Federal
agencies are just getting started looking into this. So the
scope is huge, the amount is huge, and the fact
that they my state government was as negligent and incompetent
(09:51):
or worse in the circumstances is infuriating.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
What do you say to people who now want to
look at other systems in Minnesota and raise questions about
the integrity there with the voting system. Harmeiet Dillon, who's
with obviously the Attorney General's office, is now writing a
letter to the Secretary of State Steve Simon and asking
for records relating to same day voter registration. And this
is a letter that I believe she sent today. So
(10:18):
you obviously have one statewide office in Minnesota. Minnesota's had
a very unique practice of known as vouching. They've had
some unique laws related to election integrity. What do you
think about I mean, if it can happen to welfare programs,
is it fair to raise questions about how secure the
voting has been in Minnesota as well?
Speaker 4 (10:37):
Yes, and there have been some isolated examples of voter
fraud in Minnesota, you know, not at scale. But there's
also a tussle going on between Secretary of State Steve
Simon and the federal government, the Trump administration, over releasing
data that would reveal more about potential fraud in Minnesota,
and the fact that Minnesota won't release that data is
concerning and maybe suspicious. But beyond that, you know, one
(11:01):
of the hallmarks of preventing fraud is you got to
check and that you know, you have to can't check
everything every day, everywhere, but you have to check enough
to be able to detect early whether you've got a
potential fraud problem. And we do not check nearly enough
in our voting system in Minnesota, and I think more
scrutiny in that area is definitely well deserved.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Well, we've been talking to a former governor of Minnesota,
Tim Plenty, about the situation in that state. I'm going
to ask you, I guess a final question, and this
is where I get a little bit concerned and skeptical.
There was a case recently in Minnesota of a Somali
gentleman who was operating a fraudulent I think it was
daycare center, was convicted. It was three and a half
(11:41):
four million dollars. A jury unanimously said this guy's guilty,
go to jail. The judge took the unusual step of
reversing that and say, no, he's free to go. And
in her explanation, I'm trying to remember the judge's name.
In her explanation, Governor, she said, well, we have to
consider cultural factors which to me is highly insulting because
(12:03):
she's basically saying, if you're from Somalia, you really don't
know what fraud is. Is that a concern of yours
that people are going to make excuses and you're going
to have judges or people in state government figure out
ways to get some people off the hook under the
guise that this is like a cultural misunderstanding.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
Yeah, well, I'm familiar with that ruling, and I think
it's ridiculous and preposterous. You know, we shouldn't stigmatize people
because they're in a particular group, but we also should
excuse illegal or inappropriate behavior because somebody's in that group.
And her application of the law in this regard, I
think is I just don't understand it. It's very frustrating
(12:43):
and hopefully you know that will not be the pattern
with these cases as the rest of them get sentenced.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
But we also don't have a lot of data to
suggest it won't be. I mean, that's the problem to
your point it You know, people don't want to check,
but the more they check, the more they find. And
I will say, to the Trump administration's credit, they're checking more,
and so I think as a result they're finding more.
Governor Paulenti, you're great to join us. You're the last
Republican to win state wide election. We could talk about,
you know, Minnesota is a case study for I think
(13:11):
the problems potentially we're facing as a country when you
only have one party rule in these areas like Minnesota,
Lake California. But we appreciate your time today and wish
you the best of luck as you continue to try
to hold your home state accountable in ways that it
has not been for some time. So thank you for
joining us today.
Speaker 4 (13:25):
My pleasure, thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
So I think that there's you know, just as a
final note on that, the person who was in charge
of the Democrat Party for fifteen years, Ken Martin, is
now the head of the Democrat Party for the country.
And whatever systems they allowed and they groomed in place,
I mean, I don't think it's a stretch. You'd be like, hey,
are they trying to replicate this on a national level.
It's a very important story we're going to continue to follow.
(13:47):
He's Peter Schweiz or America Eggers. We're filling in for
Sean Handy here on The Sean Handy Show. We'd love
to talk to you. Give us a phone call one
eight hundred and nine to one sean we back right.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
After this.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
Or in fake news gives you lies, supplies the truth.
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Speaker 3 (15:16):
Hey, it's Peter Schweitzer and Eric Eggers here on the
Seawan Handy radio show. Peter, you just heard former Minnesota
Governor Tim Paulenti say that they don't really check about
the fraud in Minnesota. Now, if they wanted to check
a daycare in Minnesota, we'd run into some problems because
is this person who runs a daycare, Smally Daycare in
Minnesota just told us they've had a little bit of
(15:36):
a break in problem.
Speaker 8 (15:38):
Unfortunately, we saw that there was important documentation enrollment of
the children and also employee documentation that was gone. There
were also checkbooks are rifts from our checkpapers that are
from our.
Speaker 9 (15:53):
Book so you hear.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
So, if they did want to check, and they wanted
to look for like payroll records or like any evidence
that what you say you do here is actually taking
care of children, apparently due to vandals or thieves, that
information is now gone.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
And not backed up. Apparently, right, it's not in the
cloud and they don't have these records anywhere. Yeah, I
mean this is this is the problem. If you and
I tried that with the i r S. Yeah I
took those deductions, Yeah those were legitimate expenses, but I
can't find my records. I RS is gonna say too bad,
you owe us the money. And I think we need
to apply the same standard here. If you can't prove
that you were actually servicing kids in a daycare center
(16:30):
with these taxpayer dollars, that's fraud and you're going to jail.
Speaker 9 (16:33):
But what if the records were stolen?
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Peter, don't you realize how valuable some Mollie daycare records
are on the street value. Forget that blue diamond stuff,
but you got them some Mollids.
Speaker 9 (16:47):
I mean, it's insane.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
And the problem is when you've been accused of lying
and stealing, it's gonna be tough to take care award
for it. It's just a crazy story that just gets
it crazier. And it's been crazy in the news for
the last seven months. I can't believe we're still talking
about it. We'll talk about it plus the mother insane
stories and we get back from this break. He's Peter Schwisch,
Americ Eggers. This is the Sean Handy radio show back
after this.
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(18:23):
Breaking news all afternoon when you get off work, be
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Speaker 9 (18:32):
This is the Sean Hannity Show.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Peter Schweitzer, Eric Edgars.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
We are filling in for Sean on this January the second,
twenty twenty six. Hard to say that twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
We got here already.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
We started the show by talking about some of the
radical predictions people had made about twenty twenty five, how
things were not as terrible as people thought they were.
It was actually a pretty good year looking ahead to
twenty twenty Usually people make kind of New Year's resolutions.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Have you made any?
Speaker 2 (19:04):
I know A common one is people want to get healthier.
They want to get more fit. You're you're a pretty
fit guy already, but you know, eating healthier, being healthier.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
First, let me just say thank you for noticing. That
means a lot, because I do try. What I'm what
I predict and what I am optimistic about is the
fact that I think that as a country, we're gonna
get healthier, and we're.
Speaker 9 (19:27):
Gonna get healthier in a way.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
You know, we we elected Donald Trump, he appointed RFK Junior,
And it's funny we had this whole like make America
Healthy Again thing and I do think that there there
are some health trends that are largely positive people.
Speaker 9 (19:40):
Fewer people seem to be drinking.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
There's a lot of like you know, dry January is
the thing, and just more and more people I think
are just choosing different lifestyles. But as a country, we
have made an interesting decision, something that you and I
I'm not sure we ever thought this would happen. Yeah,
because I remember a long time ago, you and I
did a TV spe on the Shohn Handy television show,
(20:02):
and it was about it was called profits from Poverty.
It was about how much money the welfare system, how
much money people make off of food stamps and including
by the way, at the time, like JP Morgan was
making money off of the EBT cards swiped. I mean,
it's crazy how much money it is. But one of
the things we tried to do is we were talking
about we wanted to have a soda lobbyist on to
talk about the fact, like SODA's big business in for
(20:26):
EBT and I think we've done a podcast on this.
It's something like two percent of Coca Cola's global earnings
would go down if people could stop buying soda with
their EBT or with their food stamps. Well, a number
of states as of yesterday have taken that step amazing,
So in Utah, Nebraska, Iowa, Indiana, and West Virginia, you
(20:47):
can no longer buy soda or junk food with your
food stamps. Indiana, you're happy because they're your college football
team's doing amazing. If you're a poor person, you're like soda,
you're less happy.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Well, and look, if you want to pay for it yourself,
you're welcome to the question is should taxpayer dollars in
a nutrition program be actually used to buy soft drinks
or pork rinds or whatever, And the answer is no.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
The answer is clearly no.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
You remember the n and SNAP stations for nutrition. Thirteen
more states are adding to this list by the fall,
by the way.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Yeah no, which is amazing. And look, there have been
studies that have compared the EBT, which is the sort
of food stamp program, with the WICK program, which is
a separate public assistance program for women and children. The
WICK has always banned using money for junk food or
SODA's or things like that. EBT is not, and studies
(21:44):
show that there's a massive difference in the obesity rates
that people that are on EBT have much higher obesity
problems than they do in Wick, and I think one
of the reasons is you've got money that you can
use to buy this stuff. And as you pointed out,
for years, the big companies, the big snack food companies,
the big software in companies fought this reform. Their argument was,
(22:07):
in the name of freedom of choice. We're Americans, right,
you should be able to choose what you put into
your body. My answer is, yeah, it kind of is,
except you're not going to use taxpayer dollars to do it.
So this is a huge, huge win for America to
become healthier and stronger.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
Yeah, it's an interesting discussion because when Mike Bloomberg outlawed
remember big sodas in New York City, and we're like,
what is this like that that seems an odd choice.
But there's a difference between saying what you private citizen
with your own money can purchase versus what I, as
a taxpayer going to subsidize for you, especially if what
we're subsidizing lends you to be even more of a
(22:42):
burden because you're gonna have poor health care outcomes and
everything else. I mean, the number one predictor of poor
health is income sadly, yeah, and so I mean that.
And part of the reason why is it just people
the cheap stuff's not great for you.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Yeah, cheap stuff's not great for you, and sometimes it's
not accessible. But again, you shouldn't be using taxpayer dollars
to do this. And by the way, this is going
to redound to the benefit not only for the individuals
on this program, but it's going to help lower health
care costs in America because when you have obesity, that's
what creates all that's creates problems of diabetes, heart problems, etc.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
So this is a win for all the right reasons.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
I think there's going to be people squealing about it,
saying how terrible it is, it's unfair, but I think
it's a great choice. Again, it's a nutrition program, and
we're talking about taxpayer dollars. We're not talking about somebody's
personal choice with what they choose to do with their
own money.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
So that's a positive trend, and it's one that we
didn't think was possible necessarily a decade ago.
Speaker 9 (23:39):
When we started looking at this.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
So here's another trend that I also think could be
quite positive. I don't know how possible it is, but
in case you don't know, in Australia they're about to
get not just like physically healthier, but mentally and emotionally
healthier because what they have done is they have banned
Peter Schweitzer children under the age of sixteen from using
social media and the rest of the world is taking notice.
(24:03):
And now even the New York Times is doing stories
about people are saying, listen, if Australia can do it, like,
can we do this too? And so it's interesting to
see like that. There's every study says social media is
so bad for the developing brains of children for lots
of different reasons. And as a father myself, I've noticed
(24:23):
a week my wife and I it was a long
discussion and we finally decided to get our our daughter's iPads.
And then I find that on these iPads they're actually
even getting It's like it's you think it's a video
thing and you set the parental controls for under the
age of nine, yet there's still things that are basically
social media on there. And it's crazy and it is
(24:44):
it's incredibly challenging. So credit to Australia. But of course
they're not. It's not a done deal. Reddit of all
companies is suing them to say no. We think the
teenagers they need the social media right, right, right, they
need they need to read Reddit. It's like a soda
company suing these states like no, oh, poor people need us.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
No, that's that's that's a great analogy. And look this one.
To me, I'm a little bit more conflicted on so
in Australia. I'm wondering if a parent says I'm fine
with my thirteen year old, is can can a parental approval?
Can a thirteen year old do it? Or is it
an outright ban? It doesn't matter.
Speaker 9 (25:16):
I believe it's not right band but you know me.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
But if you're a parent and you want to give
your kids scotch, like that's also illegal.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
No exactly, or a tattoo, right even if mom and
dad are okay with the eleven year old getting a tat, No,
you can't do that.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
I feel like the parents who get their kids tats
are also the kids parents who give the kids scotch.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
I think that's a fair assumption and why not sing
them all? Well?
Speaker 2 (25:43):
So, yeah, I mean the libertarian part of me doesn't
like the government telling people what to do. But again,
we were talking about children. Yeah, we're not talking about adults.
And sometimes you have parents that don't make great choices.
And by the way, this band, there's a lot of
parents that like this band because they don't have to
fight with their kids and say no, no, no, you
can't use it. It's like I can't do anything about it. Son, Sorry,
(26:05):
I wish you could watch those programs or do those
things online, but you can't because the government says so.
So it kind of helps parents out as well. Tell me,
how is it going with you? And you've got such
sweet children, and and and Katie your wife. You guys
are you know, working on this stuff together and you
know kind of have the same views right on iPad
usage and all of that. So how's it going, How
(26:27):
how they've had it since Christmas? How's it going?
Speaker 3 (26:29):
Poorly? Incredibly poorly? How I instantly regret this decision. No,
I mean just to say, I mean it's a real fight.
And there's a whole like wait till eight So a
lot of parents are trying to wait till eighth grade
to get their kids a phone or social media device
because it is it just it's insane.
Speaker 9 (26:46):
But I did.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
We we've been talking about having a contract for our
children to have to sign. Good idea, So like, here
are the rules you'll have to use to before you
can use his iPad, and even just the drafts of
the contract, which my wife ironically you chat GBT to
produce it. But then so we're talking about, hey, we'll
have these contracts, and I come home and I see
(27:08):
that my daughter has written this thing out.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
While revised the contract.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
She is eleven, and she has said, I hereby declare
that Ashland Smith Eggers does not have to sign any
form of a contract whatsoever. She does not have to
sign the new iPad contract that's being printed. You bought
the iPad. Now it's ours.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
And by the way, I love this. You've got this
right here in the studio. It's got nice yellow letters
iPad contract.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
I just think it speaks to like how much it
takes hold in their brains and their hearts.
Speaker 9 (27:40):
I mean, it's a real thing.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
It's like crack. It's like a crack addiction. I mean
you and look, it's all about dopamines. I mean, there
are all these studies have been done that shows like
when they pick a certain color, you know, for their
logo or certain color to frame something, they've done a
lot of research on the one that is most likely
to draw you in. And so that's great. So where
where are the contracting negotiations right now?
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (28:02):
I mean I think it's bedtime when I get home,
I think is what I will say this to your
point about like, and this is not just for children's
for adults too, and we're talking about New Yar's resolutions.
I think we just have to continue to be wiser.
You know. In addition to the food stamp documentary we produce,
we also did a documentary on Google and Facebook and technology.
It's called The Creepy Line. You can see it on Amazon.
(28:24):
But we you know, in that thing, you talk about
how there's always a gap between when a technology is
introduced and when regulations develop about the safe use of
that technology, right, and you know, we are now what
thirty years into the internet basically, yeah, and it we're
still kind of figuring out how and why is the
(28:46):
best way to use it? And these technology companies are
making so much money they don't want any restrictions whatsoever. Right,
But it's true that, Like, I mean, I give you
so much credit. You use the gray scale on your phone,
which I can't do because it makes my phone less fun.
But you're so good at it.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Well, I appreciate that. Yeah, the grayscale. The theory is
is the colors are part of the addiction, right in
sense of drawing you back in, So you can go
in your iPhone put it on gray scale, so everything's
black and white. Now, if somebody sends you a really
cool colorful picture about flowers, you're kind of out of luck.
But yeah, there are tricks that you can employ. But
to your point, I mean, you think about I'm old
(29:24):
enough to remember when the Internet first sort of really
in the nineteen nineties started to emerge. The promise was,
this is going to be so educational.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
People are gonna learn.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Languages, they're gonna learn about art history, they're gonna learn
about the French Revolution, they're gonna learn about all these
different cultures.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Look online.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
Yeah that stuff is there, but the biggest stuff is
basically garbage.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
But here's the point. Here's where do they use the
internet to learn about those things? And you wrote about
this in one of your most recent bestsellers. They do
it in China.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Because they restrict a lot of the stuff like TikTok
China Chinese company own TikTok. It's in the United States,
the local version, which is called something Different. They strip out.
There's no blue haired ladies screaming and dancing. There's no
you know, strange challenges. It's all science and history and culture,
(30:16):
of course through the eyes of the CCP. So look,
there's a balance there. But I agree with you. I
think we have experimented. My kids are older than are
in our twenties. They were kind of the experimental generation.
And I feel bad because our children were they were
given access to iPhones. Everybody thought everything was fine, and
then all these problems started to emerge, you know, the
(30:39):
terrible things about stalking and about you know, the sexual blackmail,
you know, pictures and all that kind of stuff. I
think it's high time that we realize the power, the potency,
and the damage that this stuff can do. So I
want to applaud you and your wife for doing this contract.
It's very easy to just tune out and say just
take the iPad.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
They'll be happy, it'll be more peaceful at home.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
But to to say okay, we're gonna expose you to
this technology, but it's gonna be restricted and it's going
to be controlled by us. You're gonna have some arguments
on your hands, but I'm glad you're doing well.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
I would just say I think that's the conversation that
is a country that we need to continue to be
willing to have. And just the example about technology and governance,
like seventy years before cars were introduced and we started
requiring or even allowing seat belt right right, I mean,
you know, and so just and I think we're still
very much into what does a seat belt look like?
For all the technology that we have access to as
(31:32):
a society, and the problem is that the companies make so
much money off of not allowing any of that stuff.
And so credit to Australia. You know, if states can
ban soda off of welfare programs and countries can ban
social media for teenagers, it just shows you that's a
conversation we need to continue to have. And so we
appreciate the opportunity to talk to you on this program
about like where I think we still need to go
as a possible New Years resolution. So we'll finish up
(31:54):
the program here he's Peter Schweizer, our americ Eggers. If
you've enjoyed what you've heard today, you can listen to
more of it at our post podcast website, The Drilldown
dot com.
Speaker 9 (32:02):
We right back after this.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
To Sean Hannity's show.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
This has been Peter Schweizer and Eric Eggers. We've been
filling in for Sewan. We appreciate you taking the time
to listen to us. Last question for you, mister Eggers,
I want either a prediction about twenty twenty six or
I want a resolution on your part for the year ahead.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
I think a prediction is and you heard Tim Paul
Lent he address it briefly. But I think with Harmeat
Dylan asking for voting records in Minnesota and the way
they're going after, I think fraud and just like looking,
they're just looking for things. I think you're going to
see real improvements in election integrity in this country. You know,
I wrote a book about election integrity that came out
in twenty eighteen. I think the Trump administration is refreshing
(32:42):
in actually taking it seriously. And I think that if
these welfare programs can be exploited, so too can the elections.
Speaker 9 (32:48):
There.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
It's a very topic that means a lot to them,
and I think you'll see them take meaningful action on
that this show.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Yeah, we were told there's very little fraud and social
welfare programs, and there's very little voter fraud. We found
it in social welfare programs, probably going to find it
in voter fraud as well well. This has been great, Eric,
I always appreciate the opportunity to do this with you.
I'm not a professional of this, You've done this in
your career. We're so thankful for Sean and for producer
Linda for allowing us to have access to these microphones.
(33:15):
Jason and Katie who are on Team Hannity up in
New York, thank you again for all of your guidance
and grant Brent and Lucas who've helped us here locally.
We appreciate that as well. And I'm very optimistic about
twenty twenty six. I think the economy is going to
do a lot of great things. I think people's lives
are going to improve, and I am very optimistic about
the year ahead.
Speaker 3 (33:35):
I'm optimistic too, Vian excited about your book, which you'll
come out in twenty twenty six. I think it'll do
a lot of good things, and so just again echo
your statements. Excited to the opportunity to host this show,
excited to talk to you America. Sean Handy, we back
on this show on Monday. Until then, have a great
weekend
The Sean Hannity Show News
Host
Sean Hannity
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